I stopped at the parts store on Saturday morning and got the back bearing to take to my daughter’s, Iret, house. I felt pretty confident I had the problem solved. On to her house with parts in hand. I did not waste any time as I entered the house to start the installation of the parts.
I had to remove the heating element panel on the back of the dryer to get to the bearing housing. I Carefully marked the connectors on the panel before I removed any wires. Once I removed the heating element panel, I had easy access to the bearing housing. Three screws to remove it; three screws to replace it. I reinstalled the heating element panel and plugged in all the connectors. I tested my installation by turning on the dryer. The elements glowed a bright red.
Now I needed to tackle the bearing shaft on the drum. The shaft had three screws too. The screws needed to be removed from the inside of the drum. Removing the shaft was way easier than replacing it. My arms were not long enough to hold the shaft on the back of the drum and turn the screws inside the drum. I had Iret’s husband, Nevets, hold the shaft as I turned the screws. Trying to align the shaft to the holes in the drum created the most havoc. Finally, I got one screw started. Installing the next two screws was easy.
Time to put the dryer back together. I put the idler pulley back in its spot. I put the belt on the drum and laid it into the dryer cabinet. I made multiple attempts to get the belt on the idler pulley. GE must have believed that only people with very skinny arms work on their dryers. I jammed both arms into the small openings and eventually got the belt on the pulley.
Like most of my projects, I have parts left over. It was just one screw. After searching around the dryer, I found where the missing screw went. The dryer was together. First, it was down the stairs to turn on the breaker. And then it was back up the stairs to the dryer. I pushed the start button. The only sound I heard was the slight rumbling of the drum turning. With a big sigh of relief, I stood there and let the dryer run.
The dryer ran for about five minutes and the screeching noise came back. The sound was as loud as before. I quickly shut off the dryer. I leaned on the dryer as I thought about Plan B. Hmm. I did notice the front bearing housing looked a little worn. I let Iret know about Plan B. I would be back tomorrow night with a new front bearing housing.